Lawyer Monthly - November 2021 Edition

As the year slowly draws to a close, we can begin to guess at how its M&A deals have compared to prior years. We already know that the total value of pending and completed transactions surpassed 2020’s total $3.59 trillion as early as this summer 1 , yet at the moment we can only guess at what the final figure may look like. The tech sector has also been buzzing this month, not least because of Emerson Electric Co’s announcement of an $11 billion deal to merge its software units with Aspen Technology. 2 Emerson will be advised on the deal by its long-time advisor David Polk, having previously worked with the firm on its $1.6 billion acquisition of Open Systems International, whereas Aspen will be advised by Skadden. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2022. However, there is reason to remain cautious as we head into the new year. Leading M&A SaaS provider Datasite published a survey 3 of 400 US and UK dealmakers on climate change, ESG and the impact of due diligence going forward. Findings of the survey included a growing concern about climate change, with 65% of dealmakers expecting to see more deals fall apart because of climate change-related due diligence risks over the next two years. 44% expected climate change concerns to be the biggest dealmaker in the coming 12 months, ahead of fears COVID-19, inflation, regulation and geopolitics. Be sure to turn back to this page in our December edition as we learn more about how the M&A and IPO scene has been shaped this year. Over the next few pages, we feature some of the deals that have taken place globally over the past month, where we had the pleasure of speaking with some of the advisors involved. 1 https://www.reuters.com/business/global-markets-ma-2021-08-12/ #:~:text=According% 20to%20Refinitiv%20data%2C%20the,24%25%20jump%20over%20last%20year. 2 https://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2021/10/davis-polk-and-skadden head-emersons-11-billion-aspentech-merger/ 3 https://www.datasite.com/us/en/insights/visualization/infographics/climate- change-s-impact-on-m-a.html What’sHappening in theWorldof M&As and IPOs? 78 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM NOV 2021